Pittsburg Serial Killer

Serial Killer

The Pittsburg Serial Killer

Overview

The name "Pittsburg Serial Killer" refers to an unidentified person, or possibly more than one offender, suspected of committing a cluster of unsolved murders in Pittsburg, California, between November 1998 and January 1999. The case is associated with five victims whose bodies were discovered in or near the city during a period of approximately two months. Four of the victims were women, and one was a man. The killings caused considerable fear in Pittsburg, an industrial East Bay community in Contra Costa County. Several bodies were abandoned in ditches, vacant lots or industrial districts where they were unlikely to be noticed immediately. The rapid succession of deaths led residents, journalists and some investigators to believe that a serial killer might have been operating in the area. Authorities never conclusively established that all five victims were murdered by the same person. The victims were killed by different methods, and investigators publicly acknowledged that there was no single piece of physical or forensic evidence connecting every case. Nevertheless, the timing, geographic concentration and disposal of several bodies in isolated industrial locations created a pattern that could not easily be dismissed.

Confirmed and Suspected Victims

• Michael Tan, 27 November 9, 1998 North Parkside Drive, Pittsburg, California: Tan, a resident of Concord, was found in a ditch near the outskirts of North Parkside Drive. Investigators determined that he had been beaten and drowned approximately six hours before his body was discovered. Tan reportedly had no known personal connection to Pittsburg. Police found that his apartment had been ransacked, raising the possibility that he encountered an intruder during a robbery and was abducted or killed to prevent him from identifying the offender. He was the only male victim included in the suspected series.
• Lisa Diane Norrell, 15 Disappeared November 6, 1998; found November 14, 1998 Pittsburg-Antioch Highway, California: Lisa disappeared after leaving a quinceañera rehearsal at a social hall in Antioch. She was last seen at approximately 10:30 or 11:00 that night while attempting to return home to Pittsburg. Her shoes were later located beside the Pittsburg-Antioch Highway. Eight days after she vanished, her body was found facedown on the grounds of a landscaping business near the highway. She had died from asphyxiation or strangulation. Although November 6 is commonly recorded as her date of death, the precise time of her killing was not conclusively established publicly.
• Jessica L. Frederick, 27 December 5, 1998 Industrial Road area, Pittsburg, California: Frederick was found dead near an automobile wrecking yard in an industrial district around Harbor Street and Industrial Road. She had suffered blunt-force injuries and stab wounds. Her body appeared to have been abandoned beside a roadway surrounded by salvage businesses, truck-repair facilities and other industrial properties. Police later investigated a former boyfriend after evidence connected Frederick to his residence, but subsequent forensic testing excluded him as the person responsible for the suspected serial murders.
• Rachael Clara Cruise, 32 Last seen December 13, 1998; found December 15, 1998 California Avenue, Pittsburg, California: Cruise was last seen alive in Pittsburg on the evening of December 13. Two days later, her body was discovered in a ditch along California Avenue in an isolated industrial area. She had been manually strangled and asphyxiated. The coroner's examination reportedly indicated that her body had been dragged for a short distance along the roadway before being left in the ditch. December 15 is generally recorded as her date of death, although the killing may have occurred sometime after her disappearance on December 13.
• Valerie Dawn "China" Schultz, 27 Found January 8, 1999 Willow Pass Road area, Pittsburg, California: Schultz was found in a ditch in an undeveloped area near Willow Pass Road. She had suffered multiple stab wounds, and evidence also indicated that she had been strangled. Schultz had previously lived in nearby Bay Point before moving to Waubun, Minnesota. She returned to Pittsburg approximately one week before her death and stayed at a local motel. Her exact time of death was not publicly established, but January 8 is generally associated with the case because it was the date her body was discovered.

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Confirmed Victims: (5)

Michael Tan Age: (27), Date of Death: 1998-11-09

Disappearances fuel serial killer rumors in Pittsburgh area - The Penn